I went to find a bland cloak and put it on. Then made haste to the stables, there found an already saddled horse. It was a beautiful brown mare a little bit taller than Yelen. I dismounted and tied him. I mounted the mare and was met with a stare of utter betrayal from my companion.

"Calm down you stonehead I am not abandoning you but she is probably faster and way less conspicuous. If I rode you and your black ass I would be spotted from a mile away".

Not getting it through his thick head my companion whinnied discontentedly.

"I promise when I return I will get you another big apple".

Yelen lowered his head and knocked the ground with his hoof pleadingly.

Exasperated I looked up at the sky.

"Fine, I will give you two!"

Clearly pleased by my concession he gave me a big horsey smile.

Before he managed to get the third apple out of me I rode out of the camp and over the hill.

I needed to cross some distance so I started trotting toward my destination. When I got decently close I went into the treeline, I needed to avoid enemy scouts. With some rough orientation, I managed to get decently close to the enemy and find an obscured spot where I tied my horse, I will have to continue on foot.

After 15 minute walk I nearly reached the edge of the woods overlooking the valley. Suddenly I heard faint sounds of human speech. There shouldn't be any of our scouts here.

I gripped my spear tighter and crouched. Cautious, I started slowly making my way to the source of the sound, it was coming from behind the thick ring of bushes.

As I got closer I could discern from the sound that two people are talking to each other, if there are more they are not making a sound but if one is on sentry duty that is very much possible.

More important is their language.

Thebasian

"*-ere more scouts than yesterday and they are more cautious. I don't like it Adromos, I think that something is about to happen and my gut is telling me it isn't gonna be good for us*".

A much younger voice responded.

"*Relax, the army probably entered the valley while we were sitting here on the lookout. If that Chief was gonna ambush us he would have already done so*"

"*Heh "Chief. I heard that that Chief already proclaimed himself "Knez" of "Poznav", "Pomorze" and "Volynia". The bastard plans to take two eastern themes and get large parts of surrounding ones!*"

I didn't understand anything they said except when they mentioned my liege and the land that we are settling, even with horrendous pronunciation I was able to pick that up the mockery in his tone. I dared move closer and through the bush, I could make out two figures sitting next to each other overlooking the valley from their hiding spot.

"* Ha! That barbarian can dream, he won't be the first one to fall by our swords. The empire had dozens of wars with our neighbours in the past century and we are still standing like a rock. The officers are saying that after this campaign the Emperor wants to head east and reclaim lands lost during the Ildrisid disaster. He even brought his son so he can gain experience before the eastern campaign*"

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The man on the right with an older voice shook his head and started talking scoldingly.

"* This one is different. In the past, they would raid us for gold and if it came to it we would just pay them off. This Chief doesn't want our gold but our land! I will go to report our findings. You stay here and watch like a hawk until I come back, this smells fishier than the mackerel from the market*"

The older man got up and headed away from the camp.

I don't think I can pass without being seen by his companion or him if he comes back too quickly so I have to kill them.

I follow the older man that exited the bush, I wait until we can't be heard so I can strike. The man seems to be in a hurry as he walks presumably to his horse. To keep up I have to go faster than what I am comfortable with, armour under my cloak making quiet rustle of metal hitting metal.

The man suddenly stops. Startled, I stop too, my armour making a painfully audible sound while doing so.

Turns in my direction and shouts

"* Come out of there you incompetent idiot, you can be heard from a mile away!*"

I'm pretty sure there was an insult woven in there somewhere. Oh Well, cat is out of the bag now, I'm pretty sure I can take them on while they are separated. My left arm grabs my shield off my back. Thebasian braces himself as I charge him.

I can finally see his face. His skin is darker than mine and his hair and beard are black. Eyes of a similar shade are resting above his long and straight nose widen for a moment before focusing on the spear in my hand.

I barrel forward and thrust my spear into his torso as fast as I can but he shifts a little and deflects my spear towards the ground using his shortsword. To not lose my momentum I rotate my upper body and bash him with my shield. He manages to stay on his feet but is now off balance. In an attempt to push me away he swings his weapon in a wide horizontal swipe. I push myself off of him and with that and pulling my stomach back I menage to dodge it. Seizing the opportunity I make a quick thrust, I hadn't managed to raise my spear enough to hit his body but I hit him between his hip and his groin. It must have drawn blood because the Thebasian let out a pained cry and fell on his back, his arms falling to his sides and leaving him open.

At that moment I heard rustling close to us and the warrior shouted in his tongue.

"*Run Adromos R-ghghghh!!!*"

I quickly plunged my weapon through his open mouth and looked at the source of the sound.

My look was met with a man a bit younger than me running out of the bush. Disbelieving eyes opened as wide as his mouth.

I pulled my spear out and took a moment to calm my fast breaths. The youth closed his mouth,eyes narrowing.He pulled out his shortsword and round, slightly convex shield. It seems he chose to fight.

I slowly approached him. When I got within 15 feet of him he started backing away. I dashed to close the distance and thrust my spear at him, I was too far to score a hit but I wanted to seize the initiative. He blocked it with his shield and flinched when the impact turned his shield a little. He tried to swat the spear away with his shortsword but I quickly pulled it away. Not giving him any reprieve i put my shield in his face and slightly inclined it to obscure my weapon. Than i thrust with all my strength. The youth had a good idea and backpedalled but he was not fast enough, my spear hit his abdomen and plunged into his lamellar west. Sadly it was not a mortal injury and the man managed to pull back and entered the combat stance yet again, albeit with a pained expression.

He charged wanting to close so I cannot use my spear effectively. I took a step back and aimed for his sword arm. He used his shield to deflect it but it obscured his vision and blocked his sword arm for a moment, I used that moment to step to the side and avoid him. He quickly turned toward me while swinging his shortsword. I crouched a little and used my shield to block it. Then i made a quick jab at his left thigh. The leather skirt offered some resistance but the second I pulled away his whole leg was drenched in blood.

He was as good as dead.

Thebasian must have known that too as he started maniacally assaulting me. I started pulling back and dodging or blocking his strikes while not letting him get close.

One strike

Two

Three

Four

Five

An opening

I jam my spear into his vest, it pierces.

Thebasian drops his sword and grabs the spear trying to pull it out. With his remaining strength leaving him, Thebasian collapses to the side with his injured leg, he takes three suffocating breaths before going limp.

I observe my surroundings, it seems there were just two of them. I have a quick search of their hiding place and take what ducats they had, the rest I will take later if I can. My mission takes priority.

I rest for a minute and continue along the forests edge, I hope that this was the hardest part.

Not long after i could see the front of Tebasian army in the distance.